It was the same story as India bowed out of the T20 World Cup after a 10 wicket thrashing at England's hands in the semi-final in Adelaide on Thursday, November 10, 2022.
A tournament which started brightly with a thrilling win against Pakistan ended with a disappointing loss.
Captain Rohit Sharma failed to find form while K L Rahul went missing in big games as Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav played the rescue act time and again.
Among the bowlers, spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel were big flops, while the pace trio all were taken to the cleaners by the England openers.
Harish Kotian's report card on the India team at the T20 World Cup:
Rohit Sharma (1/10)
Except for a half-century against The Netherlands, Rohit had nothing to show from the T20 World Cup.
His struggles against the new ball hampered India big time in the Powerplay and he managed just 116 runs in six matches at a lowly strike rate of 106.
His captaincy also lacked vision and some team selections were frankly bizarre like keeping out Yuzvendra Chahal for the entire tournament while Rishabh Pant was only brought in for the last two games.
K L Rahul (1/10)
Rahul's two fifties came against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and he failed against South Africa, Pakistan and England.
Rahul was a rare opener at the T20 World Cup who played out two maiden overs!
He scored 128 runs at a strike of 120 and his future in the Indian T20 team is in serious doubt.
Virat Kohli (7/10)
Kohli answered all his critics in grand style with smashing performances in the Super 12s, including his match-winning epic against Pakistan in a thrilling run chase.
But his approach against England in the semi-final left many disappointed. He hit a 40-ball 50, but was unable to accelerate in the latter part of the innings.
Kohli scored 296 runs in six matches at an average of 98 with four fifties.
His two sixes against Haris Rauf in the 19th over of the game against Pakistan were inarguably the shots of the tournament.
Suryakumar Yadav (7/10)
Surya's 239 runs came at an amazing strike rate of 189 and included three fifties.
India depended on him to rescue them in almost every game after slow starts. His early dismissal in the semi-final provoked India's struggle in the middle overs and their below-par total.
Hardik Pandya (7/10)
Pandya rescued India in the semi-final against England with a blazing half-century. He also had a good all-round showing in the first match against Pakistan, scoring 40 in a tight run chase and taking three wickets.
While he didn't score as many runs as he would have liked -- 128 runs at a strike rate of 133, he played his part with the ball with eight wickets at an economy rate of 8.11.
Dinesh Karthik (1/10)
DK had a forgettable tournament with bat and gloves.
The veteran failed to make the most of his opportunities against Pakistan, South Africa and Bangaldesh for a tally of 14 runs in three games; his wicket-keeping was also below par.
Rishabh Pant (1/10)
Pant came in for Karthik for the last two games, but perished for 3 against Zimbabwe trying to slog sweep spinner Sean Williams and was run out for six against England.
Ravichandran Ashwin (1/10)
Like DK, Ashwin has played his last T20 match for India.
The experienced spinner could not pick up wickets on a consistent basis nor keep the runs down.
He resorted to bowling defensively at most times; despite that had an economy rate of 8.15 for his six wickets in the tournament, with five of those wickets coming against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
Ashwin's bowling figures against the top teams make sorry reading: 23 runs in 3 overs versus Pakistan; 19 runs in 2 overs versus Bangladesh; 1/43 in 4 overs versus South Africa and 27 runs in 2 overs versus England.
Axar Patel (1/10)
One of the big flops at the World Cup.
Drafted in place of an injured Ravindra Jadeja, Axar struggled with both bat and ball.
He managed just three wickets at an economy rate of 8.62 -- the worst by an Indian bowler as he went for plenty of runs against Zimbabwe, England and Pakistan.
Used as a floater in the batting order, Axar was run out for 2 against Pakistan and perished for 7 against Bangladesh.
Arshdeep Singh (6/10)
Playing his first World Cup, the young left-arm pacer impressed many with his ability to pick wickets at the start and bowl yorkers at the end.
Except for the England match when all the Indian bowlers went for plenty, Arshdeep picked at least a wicket in every other game.
He was India's highest wicket-taker in the World Cup with 10 wickets at an economy rate of 7.80.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (5/10)
Bhuvi bowled well with the new ball, but couldn't get among the wickets as he took just four wickets in six games at a decent economy rate of 6.16.
In the match against England when the ball didn't swing, he was taken apart by Alex Hales and Jos Buttler.
Mohammedi (3/10)
Shami was drafted into the team a few weeks before the World Cup as an injury replacement for Jasprit Bumrah, this after being kept out of the side for nearly a year.
Shami did a decent job overall with six wickets at an economy rate of 7.15, but like all others failed in the crunch match against England.
Photographs: Getty Images
